Phoebe lay down by me, and ask'd me archly if, now that I had seen the enemy, and fully considered him, I was still afraid of him?

Sam's error is to conflate appearance and identity, to presume that a silver coat, black stilettos and red hair signify the person (Allie) he recognises from that collection of signs. Whilst discussing the tacit segregationalism of Allie, a single white female, placing an advertisement specifying that she is 'seeking the same', Lynda Hart comments how she also 'pays an exorbitant price for failing to recognise the terrors of sameness.

GIRAFFITI IS HIGHER UP THE WALL but you need a ladder […]

cannibal + -ize → cannibalize